No more Computer for Dell

An Inc. will do

Common Topics

Dell's shareholders have made sure no one will mistake the company for a computer maker.

As of today, Dell Computer Corp. is no more. It's Dell Inc. to you, thanks very much. The company's shareholders approved the name change during a Friday meeting in Texas, rejecting The Register's monicker suggestions.

This change shows that investors are "embracing Dell's broader reach," the company said, in a statement. However, last we checked, Dell's broadest reach extends from PCs to servers and storage. All computers.

The printer experiment is still in its infancy (and Lexmark makes the kit), handheld shipments have been halted and Dell's foray into solar powered cars is a huge gamble.

Every slide in Dell's shareholder presentation has a server pictured on it. There are no flowers, candy bars or even ink cartridges anywhere in the PowerPoint preso.

The number one growth area listed by Dell covers servers, storage and services. That seems rather computer-centric. The second growth area is software, printers, networking, PDAs and projectors. There is a lot of computing going on there as well.

So why doesn't Dell want computer in its name?

Computer companies tend to spend a lot of cash on frivolous items such as research and development. Sun Microsystems is always being bashed for pouring billions into designing chips, servers, software and other technologies that eventually trickle down to assemblers like Dell at minimal cost.

Perhaps, that's the problem with the computer association. Dell is the king of manufacturing and likes to keep things simple. No frills, no fuss.